Friday, October 26, 2012

The prophet Nehemiah's cousin has been catapulted into the center of the Persian court - working long hours, rubbing elbows with royalty, and becoming the queen's favourite scribe.

Not bad, for a woman living in a man's world. But a devastating past has left Sarah believing that God doesn't love her and her achievements are the measure of her worth - a measure she can never quite live up to.

Darius Pasargadae is accustomed to having his way. A wealthy and admired aristocrat, the last thing he expects is an arranged marriage to the queen's scribe, an intelligent woman who scorns him.

Can two such different people help one another overcome the idols that bind them?

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Following a painful divorce, Sarah Cassidy and her teenage
daughter, Elissa, moves from Chicago to a “nice” suburb in Seattle, determined to
make a fresh start. Elissa
soon befriends their neighbour Ryan, a lonely young outcast living in the house at the end of the street, in which his sister once murdered their parents; Carrie-Ann then disappeared
into the surrounding woods where it is believed she drowned. Inexplicably filled with unease over Elissa's friendship with Ryan, Sarah tries to exert some
control over Elissa’s life, straining their already tumultuous relationship
even further.

Years after the double murder the Jacobsen family tragedy
is still the talk of the town, as Ryan’s dilapidated house and its reputation has
a negative effect on the surrounding property values, and the community just
can’t seem to let go. Hated and
victimised by the townspeople, Ryan has turned into somewhat of a recluse, and Elissa is determined to be his friend and get the townspeople to give him a break. More unsettling than the house or Ryan’s
reputation, however, is the urban legend that the disturbed Carrie-Ann never
died, but continues to live in the woods; a creature of hatred.

Is it Elissa’s imagination, or is she being watched?

House at the End of the Street by Lily Blake, David
Loucka and Jonathan Mostow (a novelisation of the film with the same name),
started out with so much promise. I was
really into the story from the first page, enjoying the writing style and the
setup of the story to come. However,
what followed did not live up to my expectations.

While the novel is obviously supposed to be a thriller,
it didn’t scare me once. Not once. Not even a little bit. Even the ending, which I presume is meant to
be suspenseful, didn’t even have me anxious.
I wish I could say that at least the ending surprised me, but it didn’t. I wouldn’t say I saw it coming for sure, but I
suspected some of it all along. Yes there were twists, but I saw most of them coming.

The storyline is indeed quite disturbing, but overall this
was a really easy read which I finished in less than a day, and it wasn’t deep
enough or strong enough to leave a lasting impression on me.

Deeply scary with an awesome twist? The movie maybe, but not the novel

Having said that, I believe I will definitely watch the
film version. At the very least I always
enjoy comparing adaptations (and in this case the book is based on the movie),
and I love Jennifer Lawrence as an actress.
If anyone can make these events interesting, she can.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I
suggest you first read my post on book 1, Hunting Lila, before continuing. If this is a story you might like to follow,
do not read this post – it contains major spoilers of book 1.

At
the conclusion of Hunting Lila, Lila has discovered that Demos is not the man
who murdered her mother, and that her mother was never truly killed at all; like Lila she is a psygen – she is kept on The Unit’s base and experimented
on! Alex and Jack also discover that The
Unit is not what they think, and that the psygens they have been taught to hate
are not as sociopathic as they were made to believe.

Losing
Lila by Sarah Alderson picks up a shortly after Hunting Lila left off. A few days after the Joshua Tree shooting , Lila
and Alex are in Mexico, meeting up with Demos and the other psygens in order to
facilitate a plan to break Jack and Melissa out of The Unit’s custody. With Alex’ support and encouragement Lila
finally embraces her ability and works on controlling it and getting
stronger. It’s time to stop running and
start fighting.

The
stakes go even higher when Lila learns that The Unit also got their hands on her
father. It turns out that her father has always been aware of the fact that her mother is telepathic, and that he has been working on a cure for
psygens, to remove their abilities; but with his research The Unit need only
reverse the basics and they can create psygens of their own – better, stronger
psygens to be sold as weapons to the highest bidder.

Is
it possible for a handful of psygens, along with Alex, to break into the
hi-tech military base, get down to maximum prisoner holding, break out Lila’s
family and safely get back out, when all of them are wanted and hunted by The
Unit? Can a team of five people hope to
take down an entire military institution who threatens them all?

Losing
Lila was every bit as exciting as Hunting Lila, and concluded quite
satisfactorily; however, several questions are left unanswered. What happened to Richard Stirling? Is Sara alive? Will Jack ever discover the truth of his
birth? Sarah Alderson left the back door
ajar, ensuring the possibility of a future novel - though, should this not materialise, Losing
Lila answered all the major questions, so we can live with it. Though I would LOVE another book. Maybe set a few years later, seeing the gang
reunite for a kick-ass mission? I was
disappointed to have to say farewell to Lila, Alex, Jack, Demos, Suki, Key and
the others; especially Mrs Johnson – what a hoot!

One
of the things I appreciated most about these books, is that there is no love triangle. I am sick unto death of love triangles. It was really great to know straight of the
bat that Lila loves Alex, and while suspecting the feeling is mutual, he admits
it fairly early on. It was so refreshing
to just have the two of them be a couple in love all along, their love
threatened only by physical threats, no third party.

The
plotline is fast and furious, and once again there are several surprising
revelations that make the outcome impossible to predict.

I
had a hard time putting these books down, and whenever you are literally sad to
finish a book, the author did a fantastic job.
Sarah Alderson most definitely did.
Great, gripping read.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hunting
Lila by Sarah Alderson is about seventeen year old Lila who is suddenly taken
to London by her father after her mother’s murder, separating her from her
brother Jack and his best friend Alex – the guy she’s loved all her life
(though she’s the only one who knows this). Shortly
after her mother’s death Lila discovers that she has telekinetic
abilities. For four years she carries
this secret until a mugging exposes her to others. Lila leaves London behind and runs to
California, into the arms of her best friends and protectors; Alex and
Jack.

Happy
to be with the people she loves best, Lila tries to simply forget what happened
in London and enjoy the time she has with them.
Jack and Alex have both joined the marine corps, and work for a secret organisation called The Unit – though Lila has never discovered what it is they
do; only that they hope to track down her mother’s killer. Lila doubts her decision to come to
California when she starts suspecting that Jack doesn’t want her there; but when
she realises that Jack and Alex never leave her alone and that men from their
unit are always watching their house, Lila starts suspecting that Jack and Alex fear for
her safety.

Lila
then learns that Jack and Alex are trying to capture a band of very dangerous
criminals, who have now discovered that Jack has a sister. They hope to kidnap Lila in order to have
collateral with which to bargain with The Unit.
Content to be in Alex’s company, Lila doesn’t worry about the situation
overmuch, but Lila soon discovers that there are others like her; people with
special abilities – and that Jack and Alex’ job is to hunt them down, and
“contain” them. The only people she
trusts to keep her safe, are actually the very people whose job it is to
capture her. Lila then discovers that
her mother’s murderer is also a like her, only he’s the most powerful of their
kind – and it is he and his cronies who want Lila.

Can
Lila trust Jack and Alex with her secret?
If they were to find out, would they still love her? Can she trust them to protect her when they
have been trained to despise and dispose of her kind?

Hunting
Lila is the most gripping read I’ve had in a really long time. The story is very well plotted and written,
the characters are wonderfully developed and the intrigue of it all won’t allow
you to put the book down until you’ve finished it.

Especially
Lila’s fears about being considered a freak and her feelings towards Alex are
wonderfully written – you as reader feel what Lila feels. Anytime an author can awaken such deep
emotion within you, you’ve got a winner in your hands.

Hunting
Lila and its sequel, Losing Lila, came highly recommended by my best friend, Erika –
so automatically I bought both at the same time. What a relief. When I finished Hunting Lila I immediately
picked up Losing Lila. This story is so
gripping I couldn’t wait to read more.

I enjoyed this book every bit as much as The Hunger Games trilogy and the Twilight saga. One of my favourite books I've read all year.

Monday, October 15, 2012

17-year-old Lila has two secrets she’s prepared to
take to the grave; The first is that she can move things just by looking at
them. The second is that she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend,
Alex, since forever.

After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila
decides to run to the only people she can trust – her brother and Alex. They
live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called
The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who
murdered her mother five years before - And that they’ve found them. In a world
where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she
is not alone – there are others out there just like her – people with special
powers - and her mother’s killer is one of them…

Friday, October 12, 2012

Safe Haven by Nicholas
Sparks is the story of Katie, an abused wife who changes her identity and flees
her husband from Boston to the small town of Southport. Katie makes a low-key living as a waitress,
but despite her efforts to remain aloof from the townsfolk, her petite beauty,
shy manner and mysterious background soon has all of Southport interested. A series of events also soon has Katie
involved in two reluctant relationships; one with her mysterious neighbour Jo,
and one with kind, single father Alex.
Despite her reservations, Katie finds herself settling in and calling
Southport home.

Josh Duhamel (Alex) and Julianne Hough (Katie) on the movie set of Safe Haven

Alex knows that Katie wants
to be left to her own devices, but something about the wounded look that
sometimes comes into her eyes makes it impossible for him to keep his
distance. When his kids become fond of
Katie they start spending more time together, and slowly but surely the real
Katie emerges; a kind, fun-loving, sweet woman who wants nothing more than to
love and be loved. A happy future might
be in the cards for them after all.

Kristen, Alex and Katie

But Katie left behind a
vengeful alcoholic husband who will do anything to bring her back to the prison
she left behind. With a secret stash of
money steadily growing, ready to disappear to the next town at the drop of a
hat should Kevin track her down, can Katie truly give her heart to Alex knowing
she can never marry him, and that she can definitely not promise forever? Can she build a life with him and his kids,
knowing that she would have to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life?

David Lyons as Kevin

At first I found it a tad
unrealistic that Katie would fall for another man so hard only about four
months after leaving an abusive bully of a husband who knocked her around for
four years. Realistically I just thought
that it would take a lot longer for an abused woman to open her heart up to
another man after years of abuse from a man she initially trusted; but the more
I read and the more I thought about it, I believe this part of the story is a
testament to Katie’s character. It goes
to show just how sweet and trusting she is, and how desperate she is for love
and affection. I think it also says a
lot about Alex that Katie immediately realises he’s a good, solid man she can
trust and depend on.

Alex and Katie

I found both Katie and Alex
to be charming characters, and I enjoyed sharing this journey with them. Nicholas Sparks did an amazing job of
describing the life of an abused wife – it always amazes me how good he is at
writing female characters. Usually I
can’t relate to female characters created by male authors, because there is
just so much about being a woman that they miss.
Sparks goes through a lot of trouble to ensure his female characters are
realistic and relatable; and as for the male characters, he never fails to give
us the perfect hero to save the day.

Safe Haven is a sweet book
about new beginnings, and I look forward to seeing the film version starring
Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough to be released February 2013. I can perfectly picture the two of them in
these roles – great casting!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Last week Lionsgate revealed all of the actors who will be playing the tributes competing in the third Quarter Quell in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, based on the book by Suzanne Collins.

In order to punish Katniss, President Snow pulls a fast one and announces that the tributes for the 75th Annual Hunger Games will only be reaped from past victors. Being the only female victor in District 12, that means Katniss is going back into the arena to fight to the death. Haymitch is reaped as the male victor, but Peeta volunteers in order to keep Katniss alive in the arena. Unbeknownst to Peeta, however, to make up for keeping secrets from Peeta during the previous games, Katniss and Haymitch have agreed that Peeta should be the one to survive, and Katniss makes her peace with not leaving the arena alive this time.

Surviving in the arena and keeping Peeta alive will not be a simple matter, as Katniss and Peeta are facing 22 former victors:

District 1:

Cashmere and Gloss; a vicious brother and sister duo, both career tributes.

Played by Stephanie Leigh Schlund and Alan Ritchson.

District 2:

Enobaria and Brutus; career tributes. Enobaria won the 62nd Hunger Games by ripping open her final opponent's throat with her teeth.

Played by Meta Golding and Bruno Gunn.

District 3:

Wiress and Beetee; Both a little eccentric and weird, intellectually strong.

Played by Amanda Plummer and Jeffrey Wright.

District 4:

Finnick and Mags; career tributes. Finnick is a young, handsome, charming former victor, one of Panem's favourites. Mags is an 80 year old victor, volunteering to take the place of Annie Cresta, the love of Finnick's life.

Played by Lynn Cohen and Sam Claflin.

District 5:

As Katniss never learns the names of the tributes from District 5, neither do we.

Played by Ivette Li-Sanchez and James Logan.

District 6:

Known only as the morphlings, both being addicted to the narcotic painkiller, morphling.

Played by Megan Hayes and Justin Hix.

District 7:

Johanna and Blight; Johanna won her Hunger Games by having the other tributes underestimate her, by pretending to be weak and tired while she was actually strong and sly.

Played by Jena Malone and Bobby Jordan.

District 8:

Cecilia and Woof.

Played by Elena Sanchez and John Casino.

District 9:

Never attended training - unknown to Katniss, unknown to us.

Played by Marian Greene and Daniel Bernhardt.

District 10:

Again, unknown to Katniss, unknown to us.

Played by Tiffany Waxler and Jackson Spidell.

District 11:

Seeder and Chaff; Chaff won the 45th Hunger Games.

Played by Maria Howell and E. Roger Mitchell.

District 12:

Katniss and Peeta. The first ever duo to win the Hunger Games together.

Again played by Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson.

Filming of Catching Fire is already under way, and some on set photos have surfaced:

Friday, October 5, 2012

I've been wanting to read Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks for a while now, and as filming of the film version took place over the last few months, fun set photos like this one only made the story seem that much more interesting.

Julianne Hough (Katie) and Josh Duhamel (Alex) goofing around on set

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small
North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her
past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming
personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant
relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two
young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite
her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots
in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his
family.

Kristen, Alex & Katie

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she
struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past
that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the
sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie
eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and
one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only
true safe haven.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

In
his acknowledgements George R.R Martin starts
off by saying “This one was a bitch”. I
wholeheartedly agree, though our reasons probably differ. If I had started reading the A
Song of Ice and Fire series back in 1996 when A Game of Thrones was
first released, and had I waited for five years after A Storm of Swords(2000)
for A
Feast For Crows (2005) to be released, I would have been very, very
disappointed. Was this delivery worth a
five year wait? Not in my opinion. However, keep in mind that Martin had spent a significant amount of
time first writing A Dance With Dragons after A
Storm of Swords. He then realised
that he needed an interim story, and only then decided to bump A Dance With Dragons to book number
five, and create A Feast For Crows as
book number four. So technically this
book didn’t take him five years to write, but it was still a five year wait for
fans.

Truthfully,
I battled my way through this instalment.
I found it boring! I suspected it
might happen – A Storm of Swords was
just so epic and mind blowing. I had
mentally prepared myself that this one would very possibly not live up to the
excitement of its predecessor, but even so I was very disappointed.

In this
instalment Cersei is ruling King’s Landing in Tommen’s stead, and in an attempt
to ensure she alone runs the show she surrounds herself (and fills her council)
with incompetent fools sure to agree with anything she says. Cersei seems to be the only one ignorant of
how unwise this approach is. Jaime, growing
more humble and noble by the day, grows cold towards his once beloved sister as
he starts seeing her for what she is, and becomes more concerned with his
honour than Cersei’s whims. Arya finds
herself in Braavos, and starts studying the art that made Jaqen H’ghar who he is
today. Sansa is still secluded in the Vale
of Arryn, hiding her true identity from everyone (except Petyr), while Brienne
of Tarth faithfully searches the Riverlands for Lady Catelyn’s daughters. The Lannisters seem to have control of the
Seven Kingdoms once more, but the Brotherhood Without Banners (now led by Lady Stoneheart)
grows ever more wrathful in their vigilante justice, and a massive threat from
the Iron Isles threatens to become more devastating than the war of five kings
had been.

Arya in Braavos

A Storm of Swords
concluded with such a slap in the face that I could not wait to read more – Martin, however, thought it would be a
good idea to omit chapters from this surprise character, along with several
other viewpoint characters, from A Feast
For Crows (or as I like to call it, The Adventures of Cersei Lannister). If you read my previous ASOIAF post mentioning
major 8 character deaths, you might want to skip the remainder of this paragraph
so as to not determine who is still alive.
This book does not include chapters from Lady Stoneheart, Jon, Tyrion,
Bran or Daenerys! To “make up for this” Martin overcompensated with way too
many Cersei, Brienne and Jaime chapters; at least Jaime’s chapters were
bearable. The man I hated so very much
in the beginning is turning out to become one of my favourite characters! The only chapters I truly enjoyed were those
of Arya, and they were far too few. I
battled my way through the rest, finishing this book only by sheer
willpower. There was no momentum this time
around to keep me reading; I only really got into the book over the last 200
pages or so.

Lady Stoneheart

On
the bright side, we see more of the Iron Isles this time around, and we are
treated to two new fascinating characters; Euron (Crow’s Eye) Greyjoy, and
Victarion Greyjoy – two brothers competing for the Seastone chair. I think the history between them and the
dynamics of their relationship will make for very interesting events. Add to that the fact that each has his sights
set on Daenerys to be his wife and ultimately Queen of Westeros.

Asha, Victarion, Aeron and Euron Greyjoy

We
also now know that Dorne wishes Daenerys to come into power and destroy the Lannisters, and with Quentyn
Martell also on his way to bring the Khaleesi back to Westeros. Add to that the fact that the mighty Citadel
does not wish Daenerys to return; they accuse the Targaryens of sorcery, and will
do anything in their power to ensure she fails.
I am positive the Daenerys chapters of A Dance With Dragons are going to be extremely gripping.

Nymeria Sand (one of the so-called Sand snakes)

Speaking of Dorne, we also get to visit Dorne
this time around, where we also meet several new characters, of which the
so-called Sand Snakes (the daughters of the Red Viper, Oberyn Martell) are my
favourites – despite having very limited action.

I
look forward to reading the next instalment, A Dance With Dragons; having said that, I doubt I will read it
before next year sometime. Besides, the
one after that, The Winds of Winter,
does not even have a publication date yet.
In February, Martin confirmed
to have written 200 pages out of approximately 1500. Also keeping in mind this is the first draft,
if Martin stays true to the time-frames
of recent history, we are quite possibly looking at a release date of 2017.

Product information:Title: A Song of ice and Fire: A Feast For CrowsAuthor: George R.R Martin

Number of pages: 1104

Publisher: Bantam

Year: 2005

ISBN-10: 055358202X

ISBN-13: 978-0553582024

* Note: The drawings featured in this post are beautiful fan art found on the web. I am not responsible for creating these wonderful works of art. All credit goes to their respective creators.